I WAS AN ALCOHOLIC ...

Alcoholics Anonymous (known commonly as "A.A." or "AA") is a world-wide fellowship of alcoholics whose primary purpose is to stay sober and carry the message of recovery from alcoholism through the Twelve Steps.

A.A. is the original twelve-step program and has been the source and model for all subsequent and separate ones, such as Gamblers Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, Sexaholics Anonymous, Overeaters Anonymous, and Al-Anon/Alateen.
An earlier group for alcoholics, known as the Washingtonians, fell apart when it tried to branch out to different goals, which A.A. has tried to avoid.


There is some controversy over the A.A. approach of abstinence as a goal as opposed to other programs which aim for moderation.

[1] It should be noted that A.A. suggests abstinence for the "real alcoholic" only, considers alcoholism to be a diagnosis which can only be made by oneself, and has no opinion on abstinence for others.

A "hard drinker" may have the habit badly enough to cause gradual physical and mental impairment. Unlike a "real alcoholic" a "hard drinker" can stop or moderate drinking - given sufficiently strong reason. (Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 20-21)

According to A.A., no amount of logic or persuasion or desire can bring a real alcoholic to lasting sobriety.

There also exist a number of purely secular non-12 step programs which promote abstinence as a recovery goal, as well as programs which promote a goal of moderation for "problem drinkers" as opposed to "alcoholics."

A listing can be found in the external links section of this article.

1 History and development
2 How the A.A. program works
3 Beliefs about alcoholism
4 Structure
5 A.A., religion and the law
6 Controversial system
6.1 AA's Supporters
6.2 AA's Critics
6.2.1 Criticisms specific to religious themes
6.3 Analysis of the controversy
7 Literature
8 External links
8.1 Critical links
8.2 Links to AA alternatives

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcoholics_Anonymous


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